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Kea (island)

Kea (island)

Kea, also known as Gia (Κέα / Τζια in Greek), Tzia and Keos (Ancient: Κέως), is an island of the Cyclades archipelago, in the Aegean Sea, in Greece. It is the island of the Cyclades complex that is closest to Attica (about 1 hour by ferry from Lavrio) and is also 20 km from Cape Sounio as well as 60 km SE of Athens. Its climate is arid and its terrain is hilly. Its capital, Ioulis, is inland at a high altitude (like most ancient Cycladic settlements, for the fear of pirates) and is considered quite picturesque. Other major villages of Kea are Korrisia (the port) and Vourkari (a fishing village). After suffering depopulation for many decades, Kea has been recently rediscovered by Athens city dwellers as a convenient destination for weekends and yachting trips. The population in 1991 was only 1,797 and the density below prefectural and Greek average. Kea is 19 km long from north to south and 9 km wide from west to east. The area is 128 km² with the highest point being 560 or 570 m. Kea was the home of Simonides of Ceos, an ancient Greek lyric poet. It is also the location of a Bronze Age settlement called Ayia Irini, which reached its height in the Late Minoan and Early Mycenaean eras (1600-1400 BCE). The municipality includes the island of Makronisos to the northwest as well as a couple of ferry and shipping lines.

Historical population

Communities

- Chavouna
- Ellinika Kea
- Kato Meria
- Ioulis
- Kea
- Korissia
- Koundouros, Greece
- Otzias
- Pisses
- Vourkari

Other

Kea has a few schools, a few lyceums, a gymnasia, churches, banks, a post office and squares (plateies).

External links

- [http://www.kea.gr Island website]
- Map and Aerial photos:
- Coordinates:
- [http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?tb=1&city=Kea&country=GR Mapquest - Kea], street map not yet available

Island

in New York, USA]] An island or isle is any piece of land that is completely surrounded by water. Very small islands are called islets. Although seldom adhered to, it is also proper to call an emergent land feature on an atoll an islet, since an atoll is a type of island. A key or cay is also another name for a relatively small island. Groups of related islands are called archipelagos. There are three main types of islands: continental islands, river islands, and volcanic islands. There are also some artificial islands. The word island derives ultimately from the Old English word igland. It was originally spelled phonetically: iland. The letter "s" was added out of the mistaken belief that it derived from isle (< Old French < Latin insula) + land, where no such etymological relationship existed.

Continental islands

Continental islands are bodies of land that are connected by the continental shelf to a continent. That is, these islands are part of an adjacent continent and are located on the continental shelf of that continent. Examples include Greenland and Sable Island off North America, Barbados and Trinidad off South America, Sicily off Europe, Sumatra and Java off Asia, New Guinea and Tasmania off Australia. A special type of continental island is the microcontinental island, which results when a continent is rifted. The best example is Madagascar off Africa. The Kerguelen Islands and some of the Seychelles are also examples. Another subtype is the barrier island: accumulations of sand on the continental shelf.

River islands

River islands occur in river deltas and in large rivers. They are caused by deposition of sediment at points in the flow where the current loses some of its carrying capacity. In essence, they are river bars, isolated in the stream. While some are ephemeral, and may disappear if the river's water volume or speed changes, others are stable and long-lived.

Volcanic islands

Volcanic islands are built by volcanoes. Mid-ocean examples are not geologically part of any continent. One type of volcanic island is found in a volcanic island arc. These islands arise from volcanoes where the subduction of one plate under another is occurring. Examples include the Mariana Islands, the Aleutian Islands, and most of Tonga in the Pacific Ocean. Some of the Lesser Antilles and the South Sandwich Islands are the only Atlantic Ocean examples. Another type of volcanic island occurs where an oceanic rift reaches the surface. There are two examples: Iceland, which is the world's largest volcanic island, and Jan Mayen—both are in the Atlantic. The last type of volcanic island are those formed over volcanic hotspots. A hot spot is more or less stationary relative to the moving tectonic plate above it, so a chain of islands results as the plate drifts. Over long periods of time, this type of island is eventually eroded down and "drowned" by isostatic adjustment, becoming a seamount. Plate movement across a hot-spot produces a line of islands oriented in the direction of the plate movement. An example is the Hawaiian Islands, from Hawaii to Kure, which then extends beneath the sea surface in a more northerly direction as the Emperor Seamounts. Another chain with similar orientation is the Tuamotu Archipelago; its older, northerly trend is the Line Islands. The southernmost chain is the Austral Islands, with its northerly trending part the atolls in the nation of Tuvalu. Tristan da Cunha is an example of a hotspot volcano in the Atlantic Ocean. An atoll is an island formed from a coral reef that has grown on an eroded and submerged volcanic island. The reef rises above the surface of the water and forms a new island. Atolls are typically ring-shaped with a central, shallow lagoon. Examples include the Maldives in the Indian Ocean and Bora Bora in the Pacific.

External links

- [http://www.un.org/Depts/los/convention_agreements/texts/unclos/part8.htm Definition of island] from United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea Category:Islands Category:Landforms zh-min-nan:Tó-sū ko:섬 ms:Pulau ja:島 simple:Island th:เกาะ

Cyclades

The Cyclades, from the Greek Κυκλάδες, ("circular," modern Greek Kykládes; see also List of traditional Greek place names) form an island group south-east of the mainland of Greece. They are a part of the vast number of islands which constitute the Greek archipelago in the Aegean Sea. The name was originally used to indicate those islands that formed a rough circle around the sacred island of Delos (map). The Cyclades are comprised of around 220 islands, with the major ones being Amorgos, Anafi, Ándros, Antiparos, Delos, Ios, Kéa, Kimolos, Kynthos, Mílos, Mykonos, Náxos, Páros, Pholegandros, Serifos, Sifnos, Sikinos, Síros, Tínos, and Santorini (Thira). Ermoupolis, on Síros, is the chief town and administrative center of the group. The islands are peaks of a submerged mountainous terrain, with the exception of two volcanic islands, Melos and Santorini (Thera). The climate is generally dry and mild, but with the exception of Naxos the soil is not very fertile: agricultural produce includes wine, fruit, wheat, olive oil, and tobacco. Cooler temperatures are in higher elevations and mainly do not receive wintry weather. In transportation, the Cyclades is the only prefecture in Greece that is not linked with a state-maintained highway or a highway number. All of its roads in the island complex are secondary or provincial.

History

The significant Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Age Cycladic culture is best known for its schematic flat female idols carved out of the islands' pure white marble centuries before the great Middle Bronze Age ("Minoan") culture arose in Crete, to the south: these figures have been looted from burials to satisfy a thriving Cycladic antiquities market since the early 20th century. A distinctive Neolithic culture amalgamating Anatolian and mainland Greek elements arose in the western Aegean before 4000 BCE, based on emmer wheat and wild-type barley, sheep and goats, pigs, and tuna that were apparently speared from small boats (Rutter). Excavated sites include Saliagos and Kephala (on Keos) with signs of copper-working, Each of the small Cycladic islands could support no more than a few thousand people, though Late Cycladic boat models show that fifty oarsmen could be assembled from the scattered communities (Rutter), and when the highly organized palace-culture of Crete arose, the islands faded into insignificance, with the exception of Delos, which retained its archaic reputation as a sanctuary through the period of Classical Greek civilization.

Archaeology

The first archaeological excavations of the 1880s were followed by systematic work by the British School at Athens and by Christos Tsountas, who investigated burial sites on several islands in 1898-99 and coined the term "Cycladic civilization" Interest lagged, then picked up in the mid-20th century, as collectors competed for the modern-looking figures that seemed so similar to sculpture by Jean Arp or Constantin Brancusi. Sites were looted and a brisk trade in forgeries arose. The context for many of these Cycladic Figurines has thus been mostly destroyed; their meaning may never be completely understood. Another intriguing and mysterious object is that of the Cycladic Frying Pans. More accurate archaeology has revealed the broad outlines of a farming and seafaring culture that had immigrated from Asia Minor ca 5000 BCE. Early Cycladic culture evolved in three phases, between ca 3300 - 2000 BCE, when it was increasingly swamped in the rising influence of Minoan Crete. The culture of mainland Greece contemporary with Cycladic culture is termed Helladic. In recent decades the Cyclades islands have become extremely popular with European and other tourists, and as a result there have been problems with erosion, pollution, and water shortages.

Area codes

:22810 - Syros, including Kythnos, Serifos and Syros islands :22820 - Andros :22830 - Tinos :22840 - Paros and Sifnos islands :22850 - Amorgos and Naxos islands :22860 - Folegandros, Ios, Santorini and Sikinos islands :22870 - Kimolos and Milos :22880 - Kea Island :22890 - Mykonos

Municipalities and communities

External links

- [http://projectsx.dartmouth.edu/classics/history/bronze_age/index.html Jeremy B. Rutter, "The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Aegean" ]: especially Lessons 2 and 4: chronology, history, bibliography
- Category:Archipelagoes Category:Islands of Greece Category:Prefectures of Greece

Aegean Sea

The Aegean Sea (Greek: Αιγαίον Πέλαγος, Aigaion Pelagos; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea, located between the Greek peninsula and Anatolia (Asia Minor, now part of Turkey). It is connected to the Marmara Sea and Black Sea by the Dardanelles and Bosporus. In ancient times there were various explanations for the name "Aegean." It was said to have been named after the town of Aegae; Aegea, a queen of the Amazons who died in the sea; and Aegeus, the father of Theseus, who drowned himself in the sea when he thought his son had died. A possible etymology is from the root Αιγ- (Aeg-) meaning wave, hence wavy sea as per αιγιαλός (aighialos). In ancient times the sea was the birthplace of two ancient civilizations - the Minoans of Crete, and the Mycenean Civilization of the Peloponnese. Later arose the city-states of Athens and Sparta among many others that constituted the Hellenic Civilization. The Aegean Sea was later inhabited by Persians, Romans, the Byzantine Empire, the Venetians, the Seljuk Turks, and the Ottoman Empire. The Aegean was the site of the original democracies, and it allowed for contact between several diverse civilizations of the Eastern Mediterranean. The Aegean islands can be simply divided into seven groups: the Thracian Sea group, the East Aegean group, the Northern Sporades, the Cyclades, the Saronic Islands (or Argo-Saronic Islands), the Dodecanese and Crete. The word archipelago was originally applied specifically to these islands. Many of the Aegean islands, or chains of islands, are actually extensions of the mountains on the mainland. One chain extends across the sea to Chios, another extends across Euboea to Samos, and a third extends across the Peloponnese and Crete to Rhodes, dividing the Aegean from the Mediterranean. Many of the islands have safe harbours and bays, but navigation through the sea is generally difficult. Many of the islands are volcanic, and marble and iron are mined on other islands. The larger islands have some fertile valleys and plains. There are two islands of considerable size belonging to Turkey on the Aegean Sea: Bozcaada Greek: Τένεδος Tenedos ) and Gökçeada (Greek: Ίμβρος Imvros(). The bays in gulfs counterclockwise includes on Crete, the Mirabelli, Almyros, Souda and Chania bays or gulfs, on the mainland the Myrtoan Sea to the west, the Saronic Gulf northwestward, the Petalies Gulf which connects with the South Euboic Sea, the Pagasetic Gulf which connects with the North Euboic Sea, the Thermian Gulf northwestward, the Chalkidiki Peninusla including the Cassandra and the Singitic Gulfs, northward the Strymonian Gulf and the Gulf of Kavala and the rest are in Turkey, one in Europe and the rest in Asia Minor.

Port Towns

The Aegean Sea has plenty of ports especially on the islands, for ports, see the island chains or its gulfs and bays.

Attica

:This article is about Attica in Greece. For other Atticas, see Attica (disambiguation).

Statistics
Capital:	Athens
Area:	3,808 km² Ranked 9th
Inhabitants:	3,841,408 Ranked 1st
Pop. density:	1313 inh./km² Ranked 1st
Code for the municipalities	21xx, Athens, 03xx, eastern Attica Peninsula 11xx, Eleusis, 40xx, Piraeus, Saronic, Troizina Hydra, Spetses, Kythira
Number of prefectural sects	4
Number of provinces	2
ISO 3166-2:	GR-A1 (old: GR-02)
Area codes:	210, 229x0, 27340
Postal code:	1xx xx except Kythera 801 00 in Kythera
Car designation:	YO, YT, YX, YY, YZ, ZB-ZZ
Map
Map of Greece highlighting the prefecture

Attica (in Greek: Αττική, Attike;; see also List of traditional Greek place names) is a periphery (subdivision) in Greece, containing Athens, the capital of Greece. Attica is also the only prefecture (nomos) in the periphery of Attica. Attica is located in what is today southern Greece, and covers about 3,800 square kilometers. In addition to Athens, it contains within its area the cities of Peiraeus, Eleusis, Megara, Laurium, and Marathon, as well as a small part of the Peloponnese peninsula and the islands of Salamis, Aegina, Poros, Hydra, Spetses, Kythira, and Antikythira. About 5,000,000 people live in the nomos, of which more than 95% are habitants of the Athens metropolitan area. Athens was originally the capital of Central Greece.

Geography

Attica is a peninsula jutting into the Aegean Sea. Mountains divide the peninsula into the plains of Pedia, Mesogeia, and Thriasia. The mountains include Hymettus, the eastern portion of Geraneia, Parnitha, Aigaleo and the Penteli mountains. To the north it is bordered by the Boeotian plain and to the west it is bordered by Corinth. The Saronic Gulf lies to the south and the island of Euboea lies off the north coast. Athens' first and only large reservoir, Lake Marathon, is about 42 km northeast and is called the Marathon Dam, which first opened in the 1920s. Since that time, it has been Attica's largest lake. Forests cover the area around Parnitha, around Hymettus and into the northeast and the north in the hills and the mountains, except for the mountaintops, but the mountains to the west and the south are grassy, barren or forested. The Cephisus River is the longest river, and Parnetha or Parnitha is the tallest mountain in Attica. The prefecture also has parklands in the Hymettus, Penteli and the Parnitha mountains and the southern part of the peninsula. According to Plato, Attica's ancient boundaries were fixed by the Isthmus, and that in the direction of the continent they extended as far as the heights of Cithaeron and Parnes. The boundary line came down in the direction of the sea, having the district of Oropus on the right, and with the river Asopus as the limit on the left.

Climate

Its climate includes typical Mediterranean weather with hot summers and cool to mild winters in low lying areas and its plains and most of the Saronic; as well as Alpine in the Northern areas where Winter is very common in the mountains like Parintha or Penteli and areas that lie at least 1,000 m above sea level. Forest fires and flash floods are also common.

History

The process of the unification of Attica by Athens is not entirely clear, but it concluded at some point in the first half of the 7th century BC when Eleusis and the surrounding plains were joined to the Athenian state, and its inhabitants became citizens. Even then, the boundaries were not fixed, as Athens struggled with Megara for control of Salamis, and with Boeotia over border towns like Oropus for centuries. See History of Athens. Attica later became part of (successively) the Roman and Byzantine Empires, the crusader Duchy of Athens, and the Ottoman Empire, until the Greek War of Independence.

Transportation

Roads and Highways

The area is connected by roads and highways:
- Greece Interstate 1 (superhighway)
- Greece Interstate 3 (old highway of Athens-Thessaloniki)
- Greece Interstate 8 (old highway linking Patras, the Peloponnese and Athens)
- Greece Interstate 8A (superhighway)
- Greece Interstate 54, Marathonos Avenue
- Greece Interstate 79
- Greece Interstate 81
- Greece Interstate 83
- Greece Interstate 85 (rare)
- Greece Interstate 89
- Greece Interstate 91
- Attiki Odos, number 6 (private owned superhighways), first opened in 2001 in the eastern part
- Hymettus Ring (number 64), opened in 2004
- Aigaleo Ring (number 65), opened in 2004
- Ano Liosia Ring (opening soon)

Ferry lines

Numerous ferry lines (both normal ferries and so called dolphins connect the port of Piraeus with the islands of the perifery.

Other

- Athens Mass Transit System
- Athens Metro
- Proastiakos
- Transit System (Attica)

Communications

Television

- 902 TV
- High TV - Athens
- Magic Peiraia - Piraeus

Radio

- 87.7 En Lefko - Athens: 87.7 FM http://www.877.gr
- 88.3 Village FM - Agios Ioannis Rentis (Athens) - 88.3 FM http://www.villagefm.com
- 90.2 Aristera sta FM - Athens: 90.1 FM http://www.902.gr
- Antenna Radio - Athens: 97.2 FM http://www.antenna.gr
- Athena 9,84 FM - Athens: 98.3 FM http://www.athina984fm.gr - Municipal Radio of the City of Athens
- Atlantis FM - Athens: 105.2 FM http://www.atlantisfm.gr
- Athens Radio Deejay - Athens: 95.2 FM http://www.radiodeejay.fm - Broadcasts nationally
- Best Radio - Athens: 92.6 FM http://www.bestradio.gr
- Diesi 101.3 - Athens: 101.3 FM http://www.diesifm.gr
- Diva FM - Athens: 106.2 FM http://www.divafm.gr
- Epikinonia FM - Athens: 94.0 FM http://www.94fm.gr - Municipal Radio of Neo Iraklio
- ERT Radio - public - Athens: http://www.ert.gr
- Filia 107 FM - public - Athens: 107.0 FM/665 am - http://www.ert.gr
- Flash 96 - Athens: 96.0 FM http://www.flash.gr - Broadcasts nationally
- Galaxy 92 - Athens: 92.0 FM http://www.galaxy92.gr
- Jeronimo Groovy FM - Athens: 88.9 FM http://www.jeronimogroovy.com
- Kosmos 93.6 - Athens: public - 93.6 FM http://www.kosmos936.gr
- Melodia FM - Athens: 99.2 FM http://www.melodia.gr
- NET 105.8 - Athens: 105.8/91.6 FM/729 MW - http://www.ert.gr - Broadcasts Nationally
- Nitro Radio - Athens: 102.5 FM http://www.nitroradio.gr
- Oasis FM - Athens: 88.0 FM http://www.oasisfm.gr
- Orange 93.2 FM - Athens: 93.2 FM http://www.orange932.gr
- Planet FM - Athens: 99.5 FM
- Polis 88.6 FM - Athens: 88.6 FM http://www.polisfm.gr
- Profit FM - Athens: 96.6 FM
- Radio 98 FM - Athens: 98.0 FM http://www.radio98fm.gr - Free pirate radio of Athens
- Radio Gold - Athens: 103.3 FM http://www.radiogold.com
- Radio Greece - Athens: via satellite - http://www.radiogreece.gr
- Radio Sfera - Athens: 102.2 FM http://www.sfera.gr - Broadcasts nationally
- Red FM - Athens: 96.3 FM http://www.redfm.gr
- Rhythmos FM - Athens: 94.9 FM http://www.rythmosfm.gr
- Rock FM 96.9 - Athens: 96.9 FM http://www.rockfm.gr
- Skai Radio - Athens: 100.3/100.6 FM http://www.skairadio.gr - Broadcasts Nationally
- Soho Radio - Athens: 89.8 FM http://www.sohoradio.gr
- Sportime FM - Athens: 89.2 FM
- Supersport FM - Athens: 94.6 FM http://www.sport-fm.gr - Broadcasts nationally
- Superstar FM - Athens: 98.6 FM
- Xenios FM - Athens: 94.3 and 97.4 FM http://www.xenios943.gr - Municipal Radio of Ano Liosia In March, 2001, the Greek government shut down approximately 60 of the 90+ FM radio stations in the Athens area, citing interference to frequencies to be used by the new Athens International Airport, though it is largely believed (and much evidence supporting this exists) that the government shut down these stations as a political favor to powerful publishing and media groups, whose stations, for the most part, remained on the air. In 2002, 8 of these stations reopened, and in 2004, a few more stations reopened.

Sporting teams

Basketball teams

- AEK
- Olympiakos
- Panathinaikos
- Peristeri

Football/soccer teams

Premier and second divisions A & B' Ethnikis (2005/06)

- AEK (Athlitiki Enosi Konstantinoupoliton) - Athens
- Akratitos - Ano Liosia (Attica) Athens, founded in 1963
- Apollon Athinon
- Chaidari - Chaidari Athens
- Chalkidona - Chalkidona
- Egaleo FC (or Egaleo) - Aegaleo Athens
- Ethnikos Asteras - Kesariani Athens
- Ilisiakos - Zografou Athens
- Ionikos - Nikaia, founded in 1965
- Kallithea - Kallithea (Athens), founded in 1966 --
- Olympiakos (Olympiakos Syndesmos Filathlon Pireos, OSFP) - Piraeus
- Panathinaikos (Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos, PAO) - Athens
- Panionios NFC - Nea Smyrni (Athens)
- Peristeri - Peristeri (Athens)
- Proodeutiki - Nikaia (Athens)
- Thrasivoulos - Fyli Athens

Third division

- Acharnaikos - Acharne
- Agios Demetrios - Athens
- Apollon - Athens
- Ethnikos - Piraeus Athens
- Vyzas - Megara

Junior division/unassorted

- Aittitos - Spata
- Aris Petroupoli - Petroupoli
- Aris Vari FC - Vari
- Artemis FC - Artemis (Loutsa)
- Aspropyrgos
- Gkyziakos - Gkyzi
- Ilioupoli
- Koropi
- Kouvaras AC - Kouvaras
- Olympiakos Papagou - Papagou
- Panelefsiniakos - Eleusis

All sports

- Ampelokipoi AC - Athens (in the area of Ampelokipoi), fourth division
- Ethnikos GS - Athens, fourth division
- Fokianos Athinon - Athens, fourth division

Persons

For people that live in Athens, see Athens#Persons
- Elli Lambeti (January 1, 1926 in Vilia - 1983 in North America)

Hospitals

- Agios Panteleimonas Hospital - Nikaia
- Eleusis Hospital - Eleusis
- Laikon Hospital - Zografou
- Agios Panteleimonas Hospital - Nikaia
- Metropolitan Hospital - Athens
- Tzaneio Hospital - Piraeus
- Asklipio - Voula
- Eginition Hospital - Athens
- Evgenidion Hospital - Athens
- Evangelismos Hospital -Athens

Municipalities and communities

See:
- List of municipalities and communities in Attica
- List of settlements in Attica

Provinces

- Province of Attica - Athens
- Province of Kythera
- Province of Megara (Megaris) - Megara
- Province of Salamis - Salamis, now part of Piraeus The former provinces in italics are no longer exists

Prefectural sects of Attica

The periphery of Attica is subdivided into the following four prefectural sects:
- Athens
- East Attica
- Piraeus (including the islands Kythira, Salamis etc.)
- West Attica Category:Prefectures of Greece Category:Peripheries of Greece Category:NUTS 2 Statistical Regions of Europe ja:アッティカ

Lavrio

Laurium or Laurion (Λαύριον, Thoricum before early 1000s BC, Ergastiri throughout the medieval times and the mid to late 1000s, Ergastiri is Greek for Workplace) is a town in southeastern part of Attica, Greece and is one of the southernmost and the seat of the municipality of Lavreotiki, famous in Classical antiquity for the silver mines which were one of the chief sources of revenue of the Athenian state, and were employed for coinage. In modern times, the town is also known as Lavrio or Lavrion. It is a sea port of much less importance than nearby Piraeus. Today it is a suburb of Athens. Latitude: 37°42’N; Longitude: 024°04’E. The Time Zone is Greenwich Mean Time + 2 hours. It is located about 60 km SE of Athens, SE of Keratea, S of Porto Rafti and Nea Makri and N of Cape Sounio. Laurium is situated on a bay overlooking the island of Makronisos (ancient times: Helena) in the east. The port is in the middle and gridded streets cover the residential area of Lavrio. GR-91 runs through Lavrio and ends south in Sounio.

Communities

- Kato Sounio (pop. 193, 1991)

Historical population

Kato Sounio] Lavrio has schools, lyceums, gymnasia, banks, a post office, and squares (plateia).

History

After the battle of Marathon, Themistocles persuaded the Athenians to devote the revenue derived from the mines to shipbuilding, and thus laid the foundation of the Athenian naval power, and made possible the victory of Salamis. The mines, which were the property of the state, were usually farmed out for a certain fixed sum and a percentage on the working; slave labour was exclusively employed. Towards the end of the 5th century the output was diminished, partly owing to the Spartan occupation of Decelea. But the mines continued to be worked, though Strabo records that in his time the tailings were being worked over, and Pausanias speaks of the mines as a thing of the past. The ancient workings, consisting of shafts and galleries for excavating the ore, and pans and other arrangements for extracting the metal, may still be seen. The mines were still worked in the early 20th century by French and Greek companies, but mainly for lead, manganese and cadmium. The population of the modern town was 10,007 in 1907. The city is now a suburb of Athens. It is now connected by the new Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport and Attiki Odos. The nearest cities are Sounion, and Keratea. It used to have a nearby train station but the line in the mid to the 20th century became abandoned. The mining town of Laurium, Michigan was named after the famous Greek Laurium.

Reference

- E Ardaillon, "Les Mines du Laurion dans l'antiquite," No. Ixxvii. of the Bibliotheque des ecoles françaises d'Athenes et de Rome.

Northwest: Kapandriti and Varnavas (both communes)	North: Agios Konstantinos (commune) and Keratea	Northeast: Petaldies Gulf
West: Keratea	Marathon	East: Petalides Gulf
Southwest: Saronic Gulf	South: Saronic Gulf

Athens

Athens (Greek: Αθήνα, Athína; IPA ) is the capital of Greece, and of the Attica prefecture of Greece. Modern Athens is a large and cosmopolitan city; Ancient Athens was a powerful city-state and renowned center of learning. It was named after its patron goddess from ancient Greek mythology, Athena. Athens is located at (38.00°, 23.72°). The metropolitan area of Athens is home to some 3.5 million people. Currently the city (metropolitan area) is growing eastwards across Attica (Greater Athens).

Name

In ancient Greek, the name of Athens was -Athēnai, plural of -Athēnē, the Greek name of the goddess Athena. The city's name was used in the plural like those of -Thēbai (Thebes) and -Mykēnai (Mycenae) because it consisted of several parts. In the 19th century, this name was formally re-adopted as the city's name. Since the official abandonment of Katharevousa Greek in the 1970s, however, the popular form Athína has become the city's official name. See also a list of alternative names for Athens.

History

Main article: History of Athens History of Athens History of Athens Athens was the leading city in Greece during the greatest period of Greek civilization during the 1st millennium BC. During the "Golden Age" of Greece (roughly 500 BC to 300 BC) it was the Western world's leading cultural, commercial and intellectual center, and indeed it is in the ideas and practices of ancient Athens that what we now call "Western civilization" has its origins. After its days of greatness, Athens continued to be a prosperous city and a centre of learning until the late Roman period. Athens had a estimated peak population of 310,000 in the year 430 BC. The schools of philosophy were closed in AD 529 by the Christian Byzantine Empire, which disapproved of the schools' pagan thinking. During the Byzantine era, Athens gradually lost a great deal of status and, by the time of the Crusades, it was already reduced to a provincial town. It faced a crushing blow between the 13th and 15th centuries, when the city was fought over by the Greek Byzantines and the French and Italian Crusaders. In 1458 the city fell to the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Mehmet II the Conqueror. As the Emperor entered the city, he was greatly struck by the beauty of its ancient monuments and issued a firman (imperial decree) that Athen's ruins not be disturbed, on pain of death. The Parthenon was in fact converted into a splendid mosque. Despite the Sultan's good intentions to preserve Athens as a model Ottoman provincial capital, the city's population went into decline and conditions worsened as the Ottoman Empire declined as well starting in the late 18th Century. As time went by, the Turks slackened their care for Athens' old buildings; the great Parthenon itself was used as a warehouse for ammunition during the Venetian siege of Athens in 1687, and consequently the temple was severely damaged when a chance Venetian shell set off several casks of gunpowder stored in the main hall. The Ottoman Empire relinquished control of Athens after the Greek War of Independence. The city was inhabited by just 5,000 people by the time it was made the capital of the newly established kingdom of Greece in 1833. During the next few decades the city was rebuilt into a modern city applying mainly to the Neoclassic style. In 1896 Athens was the host city of the 1896 Summer Olympics.The next large expansion occurred in the 1920s when suburbs were created to house Greek refugees from Asia Minor. During World War II the city was occupied by Germany and fared badly in the war's later years. After the war the city started to grow again.

Location and setting

Germany Germany With its suburbs, Athens has a population of about 3.5 million representing around 35% of the total population of Greece. Athens has grown very rapidly in the years after the war until ca. 1980 and suffered from overcrowding, traffic congestion and air pollution; it is one of the most polluted cities in Europe. These problems still persist, although the massive investment of recent years in infrastructure has had a significant effect in easing the problem. Athens sprawls across the central plain of Attica, which is bound by Mount Aegaleo on the west, Mount Parnitha on the north, Mount Penteli to the northeast, Mount Hymettus on the east, and the Saronic Gulf on the southwest. Athens has expanded to cover the entire plain, and is thus unlikely to grow significantly in area in the future, because of the natural boundaries. The geomorphology of Athens frequently causes temperature inversion phenomena partly responsible for its air pollution problem (Los Angeles has similar geomorphology and similar problems). The ancient site of the city is centered on the rocky hill of the Acropolis. In ancient times the port of Piraeus (modern name Pireas) was a separate city, but it has now been absorbed into greater Athens. The centre of the modern city is Syntagma Square (Constitution Square), site of the former Royal Palace, the Greek Parliament and other 19th century public buildings. Most of the older and wealthier parts of the city are clustered around this area, which is also where most of the tourist attractions and museums are located. Syntagma Square Athens was host to the 2004 Summer Olympics. Athens was also the host of the 1896 Summer Olympics and of the 1906 Intercalated Games. The old campus of the University of Athens, on Panepistimiou Avenue is one of the finest buildings in Athens, together with the National Library building and the Athens Academy building. These three form the so-called "Athens Trilogy", built in the late 19th century. However, most of the university's functions have been moved to a larger modern campus east of the city centre, near Zográfou. The second most significant city institution is the Athens Polytechnic School (Ethniko Metsovio Politechnio), where more than 20 students were killed in 1973 during demonstrations against the Greek military junta (1967-1974). Greek entry into the European Union in 1981 brought new investment to the city along with problems of greatly worsened congestion and air pollution. Throughout the 1990s a series of measures were taken successfully to combat pollution. In preparation for the 2004 Olympic games the city spruced up its image with the introduction of a state-of-the-art transport infrastructure, a new airport, pedestrianised areas, and new museums and public squares. The city's increasingly multi-ethnic population enjoys a vibrant night-life and world-class shopping.

Tourist attractions

1981]] 1981 Athens has been a tourist destination since antiquity. Visitors from all over the world have always been eager to visit its famous monuments. Over the past eight years, the infrastructure and social amenities of Athens have been transformed as a result of the city's successful bid to stage the 2004 Olympic Games. The Greek state aided by the E.U. have poured money into infrastructure projects such as the new "Eleftherios Venizelos" International Airport, the massive expansion of the Metro system, and the new Attiki Odos ring-road. There has also been a great expansion of private investment on hotels and other tourist developments. Most importantly from the point of view of tourism, the area around the Acropolis has been remodelled, and a great pedestrian area from the Temple of Olympian Zeus to Plaka, Monastiraki and the Psirri square has been constructed. This allows the visitor space for calm walks among the ancient monuments, ruins and trees, from the Acropolis, to the Agora (the meeting place of the ancient Athenians) and then to the narrow streets of the old city of Athens (the Plaka), away from the noise of the city centre. Near the Syntagma square (described above) is the Kallimarmaro Stadium, the place where the first modern Olympic Games took place in 1896. It is a replica of the ancient Athens Stadium. It holds a special interest, not only for romantic reasons but also because it is the only major stadium (60,000 spectators) made entirely of white marble from Penteli, the same as the one used for the construction of the Parthenon. Penteli The classic museums like the National Archaeological Museum (which holds the world's greatest collection of Greek art), the Benaki Museum (including its new Islamic Art branch) [http://www.benaki.gr], the Byzantine Museum, the Museum of Cycladic Art (strongly recommended for its collection of elegant white metamodern figures, more than 3,000 years old) [http://www.cycladic-m.gr] have all been renovated in view of the 2004 Olympics. A new Acropolis Museum is being built [http://www.culture.gr/2/21/215/21502/e21509c.html] according to a design by acclaimed architect Bernard Tschumi [http://www.culture.gr/2/21/215/21502/e21509c.html]. Not to be missed is also the very impressive Athens Planetarium [http://www.eugenfound.edu.gr], one of the world's largest. As for the night life, Athens has a great number of multiplex as well as romantic open air garden cinemas, more theatres than any other European city (including ancient marble ones that are home to the Athens Festival from June to July) and many music venues including a state of the art music hall known as "Megaron" [http://www.megaron.gr] that attracts world-famous artists all year round. The coastline - now connected to the city centre with a gleaming new tram way - boasts a series of exciting venues next to the beaches where, during the day, Athenians swim and sunbathe. The Psirri neighborhood - aka Athens' 'meat packing district'- has acquired many new bars and restaurants and is a center for young Athenians. The Plaka remains the traditional tourist destination, with many tavernas featuring 'traditional' music, but the food, though good, is expensive compared to other parts of the city. The chic Kolonaki area, near Syntagma Square, is full of boutiques catering to well-heeled customers by day and bars and restaurants by night. Some central areas (south of Omonia Square) are mainly peopled by immigrants and are full of colorful ethnic restaurants and shops. The Gazi area, one of the latest in full redevelopment, is located around a historic gaz factory that has been converted into the Technopolis (Athens's new cultural multiplex)and has a number of small clubs, bars and restaurants as well as Athens' nascent gay village. Kolonaki Casinos operate on Mount Parnitha (accessible by car or cable car) and the near town of Loutraki (accessible by car or suburban railway). An entirely new attraction is the massively upgraded Olympic Stadium Complex (known by its Greek initials OAKA). The whole area has been remodelled by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava with monuments, gardens, futuristic passages and a characteristic new blue glass roof which was added to the main Stadium. A second olympic area, next to the sea at the beach of Kallithea (Faliron), also boasts futuristic stadiums, shops and an elevated esplanade. Athens is close to sand beaches and a very clean sea, and is surrounded by four very green and easily accessible mountains that are protected national parks (Lycabetus in the centre, Parnitha and Penteli to the north and Ymittos to the southeast) some of which feature also unmissable historic sites (Lycabetus,Ymittos). Lycabetus is a large hill in Athens that is said to have been a boulder thrown down by Athena as the legend goes. Lycab(v)etus is pronounced (LEE-KAH-VEE-TOS). Mountain Parnitha 25 km from the centre of Athens) has tens of well-marked paths, gorges, springs, torrents and caves and you may meet a deer in the forest. The nearby islands of Salamina, Aigina, Poros, Hydra and Spetses are also sites of spectacular natural beauty and historical architecture. Work is underway to transform the grounds of the old Athens Airport -named Hellinikon- in the southern suburbs into a massive landscaped park (considered to be the largest in Europe when ready). The Athens municipality maintains a site of tourist interest: http://www.cityofathens.gr/

20th century architecture in Athens

- East terminal by Eero Saarinen, at former Hellenikon airport, 1960-63
- American embassy by Walter Gropius, at Vassilis Sophias Avenue, 1961
- Athens Olympic Sports Complex, by Santiago Calatrava] ([[1998]]-[[2004) ([http://users.auth.gr/~lvorgias/ sketches and models])
- Bridge at Metro-station Katehaki by Santiago Calatrava

Transportation

Santiago Calatrava Santiago Calatrava] Santiago Calatrava The public transport system in Athens consists of bus, metro, tram and suburban railway [http://www.proastiakos.gr] services. The Athens Metro is one of the most modern systems in the world. It has four lines three of them which are distinguished by the colours used in maps and signs (green, blue and red). The green line, which is the oldest and for the most part runs on the ground, connects Piraeus to Kifissia. The other two lines were constructed mainly during the 1990s and the first sections were put to service in 2000. They run entirely underground. The blue line goes from Monastiraki to Doukissis Plakentias and the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport, and the red line from Aghios Antonios to Aghios Dimitrios. Extensions to both lines are under construction, most notably to Marousi and Old Hellinikon Airport East Terminal (future Metropolitan Park). The fourth line is the Proastiakos (suburban) which runs from the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport to Athens Central train station. It is managed by three different companies (ISAP line 1), Attiko Metro (lines 2 & 3), Proastiakos (line 4). The whole Metro system of Athens has currently 91 km. Considering this issue shows how the mass transport system in Athens has improved in the last years, since until 1999 the length of the system was of just 25 km and comprised by one line. It's expected that for the 2008 it will reach 110 km, after the extensions of the first phase of expansion get concluded. The bus service consists of a network of lines on which normal buses, electric buses, and natural gas buses run (the largest fleet of natural gas run buses in Europe). There are plenty of bus lines serving Athens and the suburbs, and they link the centre of the city with most of the suburbs and neighborhoods. The tram runs from Syntagma Square to Palaio Faliro and there the line splits in two branches, going to Glyfada and Neo Faliro. Both Syntagma - Palaio Faliro - Neo Faliro and the Glyfada branch opened on 19 July 2004. Further extensions are considered. There are many taxis in Athens, which can be recognised by the yellow color of the vehicles. They are quite cheap and during rush hours it is considered normal to halt a taxi even when it is in service (although, strictly speaking, this is forbidden); in that case, if the one halting it happens to go to the same direction as the customer and the customer does not mind (although this is never brought up or an issue, and if you are the customer, be sure to enjoy the impoliteness of the taxi drivers if you do request that they do not stop to pick up other people, despite the fact that you are late, and they will wait for 2 minutes in a queue to take another fare, bearing in mind you pay for that 2 minutes as 'waiting time'), he is also allowed in, and each one pays normally as if they were the only customer. Athens is served by the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport at Spata, east of the city, about a 45-minute taxi ride from the city centre. There is also an express line connecting the airport to the metro system and 2 express lines connecting the airport to Pireus port and the city centre. Athens is also the hub of the Greek National Railway System, and ferries from Piraeus Port travel to all Greek islands. There are two motorways that go to the west towards Patra: (GR-8A, E94) and to the north towards Thessaloniki (GR-1, E75), and a ring motorway (Attiki Odos) which goes from Elefsina on the west to the airport after circling the city from the north, and another from Kaisariani to Glyke Nera where it meets the main road for Eleusis and the airport. Its total length is now about 70 km in 2004 up from 18 km in March 2001 when it first opened. There are about 21 exits and 4 junctions, up from 8. See Athens Mass Transit System for more on this topic.

Municipality

Athens Mass Transit System The modern city of Athens consists of what were formerly distinct towns and villages which gradually expanded to form a single large city; this expansion occurred in the 20th century. The city is now divided into 54 municipalities, the largest of which is the Municipality of Athens or Dimos Athinaion, with about 750,000 people (the next largest are Municipality of Piraeus, Municipality of Peristeri and Municipality of Kallithea). Athens can therefore refer either to the entire metropolitan area or to the Municipality of Athens. Each of the municipalities of Athens has an elected district council and a directly elected mayor. Mrs. Dora Bakoyanni of the conservative New Democracy party has been Mayor of Athens since October 2002. The Municipality of Athens is divived into 7 municipal districts or demotika diamerismata. The 7-district division however is mainly used for administrative purposes , while for Athenians the most popular way of dividing the city proper is through its neighborhoods (usually referred to as areas in english), each with its own distinct history and characteristics. For someone unfamiliar with Athens, getting to know about these neighborhoods can often come very handy for exploring and understanding the city.

Olympics 2004

2002 2002 Athens was awarded the 2004 Summer Olympics on September 5, 1997 in Lausanne, Switzerland, after surprisingly having lost the bid to organize the 1996 Summer Olympics, the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the modern Olympic Games. It was to be the second time Athens had hosted the Olympic Games. In 1997, Athens made a bid based largely on an appeal to Olympic history. In the last round of voting, Athens defeated Rome, 66 votes to 41. Before this, Buenos Aires, Stockholm, and Cape Town, had already been eliminated from consideration after receiving few votes. After that, the International Olympic Committee expressed its concern over the status of the progress of construction work of the new Olympic venues. A new Organizing Committee was formed under President Gianna Angelopoulos-Daskalaki and preparations began at an accelerated pace. Although the heavy cost was criticized, as is not unusual with Olympic preparations, Athens was transformed into a city that uses state-of-the-art technology in transportation and urban development. Some of the most modern sporting venues in the world were created, almost all of which were fully ready on schedule. The 2004 Games were adjudged a success, as both security and organization were good and few visitors reported problems with transportation or accommodation. The only problem noted was sparse attendance at preliminary events during the first days of competition. Total attendance was more than 3.2 million tickets sold, which was higher than any other Olympics with the exception of Sydney (more than 5 million tickets).

Cities nicknamed "Athens"

See Athens (disambiguation) for other cities named "Athens".
- Athens of the East - Madurai, India
- Athens of the South - Nashville, Tennessee
- Athens of the North - Edinburgh, Scotland
- Athens of America - Boston, Massachusetts
- Spree Athens - Berlin, Germany
- Athens on the Isar - Munich, Germany
- Athens of Latin America - Bogotá, Colombia
- Athens of Finland - Jyväskylä, Finland
- Serbian Athens - Novi Sad, Serbia and Montenegro
- Athens of Ireland - Cork, Ireland

External links

- [http://www.cityofathens.gr City of Athens official website]
- [http://www.athensvirtualtour.com/ Take a short virtual tour of Athens]
- [http://www.athens-today.com/ Take a long virtual tour of Athens]
- [http://www.culture2000.tee.gr/ Athens contemporary architecture and suggested walking routes]
- [http://www.athensdg.gr/ City of Athens official entertainment guide]
- [http://www.timeoutathens.gr/englishnew/default.asp/ TimeOut Athens - Find out what's on in Athens]
- [http://www.athinorama.gr/ Athenorama: the city's oldest weekly entertainment guide (in Greek)]
- [http://www.nyloo.com/index.ath.2.asp/ Tourist info]
- [http://www.oasa.gr/ Journey planner by the city's transport authority]
- [http://www.athens2004.com/ 2004 Olympics official website]
- [http://www.chem.uoa.gr/Location/AthensMap/Athensmap.htm Interactive Map of Central Athens]
- [http://www.transport.ntua.gr/map/en/ Real time traffic map of Athens]
- [http://www.constitution.org/ari/athen_00.htm The Athenian Constitution, Aristotle]
- [http://www.holiday.gr/place5.php?place_id=13 Hotel Finder by Holiday.gr]
- [http://www.edwebproject.org/balkans/athens.html Athens photo gallery by Susanne and Andy Carvin]
- [http://www.athensguide.org/pictures-of-athens.html Athens pictures]
- [http://www.around-athens.com Athens Directory]
- [http://sabin.ro/gallery/athens Athens Photo Gallery] Category:Capitals in Europe Category:Greek prefectural capitals Category:Coastal cities Category:Host cities of the Summer Olympic Games Category:Cities and towns in Greece zh-min-nan:Athína ko:아테네 ja:アテネ simple:Athens th:เอเธนส์

Arid

In geography, a desert is a landscape form or region that receives little precipitation - less than 250 mm per year. Deserts have a reputation for supporting very little life. Compared to wetter regions this may be true, although upon closer examination, deserts often harbor a wealth of life that usually remains hidden (especially during the daylight) to preserve moisture. Approximately one-third of Earth's land surface is desert. (See a map of the world's non-polar deserts, http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/deserts/what/world.html.) Desert landscapes have certain common features. Desert soil is often composed mostly of rocky surfaces called regs. Sand dunes called ergs and stony or hamada surfaces compose the minority of desert surfaces. Exposures of rocky terrain are typical, and reflect minimal soil development and sparseness of vegetation. Bottom lands may be salt-covered flats. Eolian (wind-driven) processes are major factors in shaping desert landscapes. Deserts sometimes contain valuable mineral deposits that were formed in the arid environment or that were exposed by erosion. Because deserts are dry, they are ideal places for human artifacts and fossils to be preserved. In the Köppen climate classification system, they are classed as (BW).

Types of desert

Most classifications rely on some combination of the number of days of rainfall, the total amount of annual rainfall, temperature, humidity, or other factors. In 1953, Peveril Meigs divided desert regions on Earth into three categories according to the amount of precipitation they received. In this now widely accepted system, extremely arid lands have at least 12 consecutive months without rainfall, arid lands have less than 250 millimeters of annual rainfall, and semiarid lands have a mean annual precipitation of between 250 and 500 millimeters. Arid and extremely arid land are deserts, and semiarid grasslands generally are referred to as steppes. However, lack of rainfall alone can't provide an accurate description of what a desert is. For example, Phoenix, Arizona receives less than 250 millimeters, (10 inches), of precipitation per year, and is immediately recognized as being located in a desert. The North Slope of Alaska's Brooks Range also receives less than 250 millimeters of precipitation per year, but is not generally recognized as a desert region. The difference lies in something termed "potential evapotranspiration." The water budget of an area can be calculated using the formula P-PE+/-S, whereby P is precipitation, PE is potential evapotranspiration rates and S is amount of surface storage of water. Evapotranspiration is the combination of water loss through atmospheric evaporation, coupled with the evaporative loss of water through the life processes of plants. Potential evapotranspiration, then, is the amount of water that could evaporate in any given region. Tucson, Arizona receives about 300 millimeters, (12 inches), of rain per year, however about 2500 millimeters, (100 inches), of water could evaporate over the course of a year. In other words, about 8 times more water could evaporate from the region than actually falls. Rates of evapotranspiration in other regions such as Alaska are much lower, so while these regions receive minimal precipitation, they should be designated as specifically different from the simple definition of a desert: a place where evaporation exceeds precipitation. That said, there are different forms of deserts. Cold deserts can be covered in snow; such locations don't receive much precipitation, and what does fall remains frozen as snow pack; these are more commonly referred to as tundra if a short season of above-freezing temperatures is experienced, or as an ice cap if the temperature remains below freezing year-round, rendering the land almost completely lifeless. Most non-polar deserts are hot because they have little water. Water tends to have a cooling, or at least a moderating, effect in environments where it is plentiful. In some parts of the world deserts are created by a rain shadow effect in which air masses lose much of their moisture as they move over a mountain range; other areas are arid by virtue of being very far from the nearest available sources of moisture (this is true in some middle-latitude landmass interior locations, particularly in Asia). Deserts are also classified by their geographical location and dominant weather pattern as trade wind, midlatitude, rain shadow, coastal, monsoon, or polar deserts. Former desert areas presently in nonarid environments are paleodeserts, and extraterrestrial deserts exist on other planets.

Montane deserts

Montane deserts are arid places with a very high altitude; the most prominent example is found north of the Himalaya, in parts of the Kunlun Mountains and the Tibetan Plateau. Many locations within this category have elevations exceeding 3,000 meters (9,843 feet) and the thermal regime can be hemiboreal. These places owe their profound aridity (the average annual precipitation is often less than 40mm) to being very far from the nearest available sources of moisture.

Desert features

hemiboreal] Sand covers only about 20 percent of Earth's deserts. Most of the sand is in sand sheets and sand seas—vast regions of undulating dunes resembling ocean waves "frozen" in an instant of time. In general, there are 6 forms of deserts: i.Mountain and basin deserts, ii. Hamada deserts, which comprise of a plateaux landforms, iii. Regs which consist of rock pavements, iv. Ergs which are formed by sand seas, v. Intermontane Basins, and vi. Badlands which are located at the margins of arid lands comprising of clay-rich soil. Nearly 100 percent of desert surfaces are plains where eolian deflation—removal of fine-grained material by the wind—has exposed loose gravels consisting predominantly of pebbles but with occasional cobbles. The remaining surfaces of arid lands are composed of exposed bedrock outcrops, desert soils, and fluvial deposits including alluvial fans, playas, desert lakes, and oases/oasis. Bedrock outcrops commonly occur as small mountains surrounded by extensive erosional plains. There are several different types of dunes. Barchan dunes are produced by strong winds blowing across a level surface and are crescent shaped. Longitudinal or seif dunes are dunes that are parallel to a strong wind that blows in one general direction. Transverse dunes run are a right angle to the constant wind direction. Star dunes are star-shaped and have several ridges that spread out around a point. Oases are vegetated areas moistened by springs, wells, or by irrigation. Many are artificial. Oases are often the only places in deserts that support crops and permanent habitation.

Soils

irrigation Soils that form in arid climates are predominantly mineral soils (classified as Aridisols) with low organic content such as salt. The repeated accumulation of water in some soils causes distinct salt layers to form. Calcium carbonate precipitated from solution may cement sand and gravel into hard layers called "calcrete" that form layers up to 50 meters thick. Caliche is a reddish-brown to white layer found in many desert soils. Caliche commonly occurs as nodules or as coatings on mineral grains formed by the complicated interaction between water and carbon dioxide released by plant roots or by decaying organic material.

Vegetation

Most desert plants are drought- or salt-tolerant, such as xerophytes. Some store water in their leaves, roots, and stems. Other desert plants have long tap roots that penetrate the water table, anchor the soil, and control erosion. The stems and leaves of some plants lower the surface velocity of sand-carrying winds and protect the ground from erosion. Deserts typically have a plant cover that is sparse but enormously diverse. The Sonoran Desert of the American Southwest has the most complex desert vegetation on Earth. The giant saguaro cacti provide nests for desert birds and serve as "trees" of the desert. Saguaro grow slowly but may live 200 years. When 9 years old, they are about 15 centimeters high. After about 75 years, the cacti develop their first branches. When fully grown, saguaro are 15 meters tall and weigh as much as 10 tons. They dot the Sonoran and reinforce the general impression of deserts as cacti-rich land. Although cacti are often thought of as characteristic desert plants, other types of plants have adapted well to the arid environment. They include the pea family and sunflower family. Cold deserts have grasses and shrubs as dominant vegetation.

Water

sunflower Rain does fall occasionally in deserts, and desert storms are often violent. A record 44 millimeters of rain once fell within 3 hours in the Sahara. Large Saharan storms may deliver up to 1 millimeter per minute. Normally dry stream channels, called arroyos or wadis, can quickly fill after heavy rains, and flash floods make these channels dangerous. Though little rain falls in deserts, deserts receive runoff from ephemeral, or short-lived, streams fed by rain and snow from adjacent highlands. These streams fill the channel with a slurry of mud and commonly transport considerable quantities of sediment for a day or two. Although most deserts are in basins with closed, or interior drainage, a few deserts are crossed by 'exotic' rivers that derive their water from outside the desert. Such rivers infiltrate soils and evaporate large amounts of water on their journeys through the deserts, but their volumes are such that they maintain their continuity. The Nile River, the Colorado River, and the Yellow River are exotic rivers that flow through deserts to deliver their sediments to the sea. Lakes form where rainfall or meltwater in interior drainage basins is sufficient. Desert lakes are generally shallow, temporary, and salty. Because these lakes are shallow and have a low bottom gradient, wind stress may cause the lake waters to move over many square kilometers. When small lakes dry up, they leave a salt crust or hardpan. The flat area of clay, silt, or sand encrusted with salt that forms is known as a playa. There are more than a hundred playas in North American deserts. Most are relics of large lakes that existed during the last ice age about 12,000 years ago. Lake Bonneville was a 52,000-square-kilometer lake almost 300 meters deep in Utah, Nevada, and Idaho during the Ice Age. Today the remnants of Lake Bonneville include Utah's Great Salt Lake, Utah Lake, and Sevier Lake. Because playas are arid land forms from a wetter past, they contain useful clues to climatic change. When the occassional preticipation does occur, it erodes the desert rocks quickly and powerfully. Wind is the other factor that erodes deserts- they are constant yet slow. The flat terrains of hardpans and playas make them excellent race tracks and natural runways for airplanes and spacecraft. Ground-vehicle speed records are commonly established on Bonneville Speedway, a race track on the Great Salt Lake hardpan. Space shuttles land on Rogers Lake Playa at Edwards Air Force Base, California.

Mineral resources

Some mineral deposits are formed, improved, or preserved by geologic processes that occur in arid lands as a consequence of climate. Ground water leaches ore minerals and redeposits them in zones near the water table. This leaching process concentrates these minerals as ore that can be mined. Evaporation in arid lands enriches mineral accumulation in their lakes. Playas may be sources of mineral deposits formed by evaporation. Water evaporating in closed basins precipitates minerals such as gypsum, salts (including sodium nitrate and sodium chloride), and borates. The minerals formed in these evaporite deposits depend on the composition and temperature of the saline waters at the time of deposition. Significant evaporite resources occur in the Great Basin Desert of the United States, mineral deposits made forever famous by the "20-mule teams" that once hauled borax-laden wagons from Death Valley to the railroad. Boron, from borax and borate evaporites, is an essential ingredient in the manufacture of glass, ceramics, enamel, agricultural chemicals, water softeners, and pharmaceuticals. Borates are mined from evaporite deposits at Searles Lake, California, and other desert locations. The total value of chemicals that have been produced from Searles Lake substantially exceeds US$1 billion. The Atacama Desert of South America is unique among the deserts of the world in its great abundance of saline minerals. Sodium nitrate has been mined for explosives and fertilizer in the Atacama since the middle of the 19th century. Nearly 3 million tonnes were mined during World War I. Valuable minerals located in arid lands include copper in the United States, Chile, Peru, and Iran; iron and lead-zinc ore in Australia; chromite in Turkey; and gold, silver, and uranium deposits in Australia and the United States. Nonmetallic mineral resources and rocks such as beryllium, mica, lithium, clays, pumice, and scoria also occur in arid regions. Sodium carbonate, sulfate, borate, nitrate, lithium, bromine, iodine, calcium, and strontium compounds come from sediments and near-surface brines formed by evaporation of inland bodies of water, often during geologically recent times. The Green River Formation of Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah contains alluvial fan deposits and playa evaporites created in a huge lake whose level fluctuated for millions of years. Economically significant deposits of trona, a major source of sodium compounds, and thick layers of oil shale were created in the arid environment. Some of the more productive petroleum areas on Earth are found in arid and semiarid regions of Africa and the Mideast, although the oil fields were originally formed in shallow marine environments. Recent climate change has placed these reservoirs in an arid environment. Other oil reservoirs, however, are presumed to be eolian in origin and are presently found in humid environments. The Rotliegendes, a hydrocarbon reservoir in the North Sea, is associated with extensive evaporite deposits. Many of the major U.S. hydrocarbon resources may come from eolian sands. Ancient alluvial fan sequences may also be hydrocarbon reservoirs.

List of deserts

Americas

- Atacama desert in Chile
- Mojave, Great Basin, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan See also: List of North American deserts

Africa

- Libyan
- Kalahari
- Sahara
- Namib

Asia-Pacific

- Dasht-e Kavir, central Iran.
- Gobi desert of Mongolia; Taklamakan desert in China.
- Kara Kum deserts in Central Asia.
- Thar-Cholistan desert in India and Pakistan.
- Kavir-e Lut, souteast Iran.
- Kyzyl Kum - Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan
- Negev - southern Israel
- Judean Desert - eastern Israel and Palestine
- Simpson Desert, Great Sandy Desert, Sturt's Stony Desert, Tanami Desert, Great Victoria Desert, Big Desert, Little Desert (all in Australia)
- Taklamakan - Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China
- Rangipo Desert - New Zealand

Pirates

:This article is about sea pirates. For other uses see Pirate (disambiguation) A pirate is one who robs, pillages, or plunders at sea, or sometimes the shore, without a commission from a recognized sovereign nation. Pirates usually target other ships, but have also attacked targets on shore. While piracy in popular conception conjures up the romantic imagery of fictionalized tales of Caribbean pirates in the 17th century, piracy persists in the world today. Unlike the stereotypical pirate with cutlass and masted sailing ship, today most pirates get about in speedboats wearing balaclavas instead of bandannas, using AK-47s rather than cutlasses. Seaborne piracy against transport vessels remains a significant problem (with estimated worldwide losses of $13 to $16 billion USD per year), particularly in the waters between the Pacific and Indian oceans, and specifically in the straits of Malacca and Singapore, used by over 50,000 commercial ships a year. While boats off the coasts of South America and the Mediterranean Sea are still molested by pirates, the advent of the United States Coast Guard has nearly eradicated piracy in American waters, and it is also much reduced in the Caribbean Sea.

Piracy in the Caribbean

The great or classic era of piracy in the Caribbean extends from around 1560 up until the 1720s. The period during which pirates were most successful was from the 1640s until the 1680s. Caribbean piracy arose out of, and mirrored on a smaller scale, the conflicts over trade and colonization among the rival European powers of the time, including England, Spain, the Dutch United Provinces, and France. Two of the most well known pirate bases were Tortuga in the 1640s and Port Royal after 1655.

Privateering

A privateer or corsair used similar methods to a pirate, but acted while in possession of a commission or letter of marque from a government or king authorizing the capture of merchant ships belonging to an enemy nation. The famous Barbary Corsairs of the Mediterranean were privateers, as were the Maltese Corsairs, who were authorized by the Knights of St. John. The letter of marque was recognized by convention—for example, the United States Constitution of 1787 specifically authorizes Congress to issue letters of marque and reprisal—and meant that a privateer could not technically be charged with piracy. This nicety of law did not always save the individuals concerned, however, as whether one was considered a pirate or a legally operating privateer often depended on whose custody the individual found himself in—that of the country that had issued the commission, or that of the object of attack. Under the Declaration of Paris of 1854, seven nations agreed to suspend the use of the letter of marque, and others followed in the Hague Conventions. The most famous privateer was Sir Francis Drake. His patron was England, and their relationship ultimately proved to be quite profitable.

Pirate organization

In the popular modern imagination, pirates of the classical period were rebellious, clever teams who operated outside the restricting bureaucracy of modern life. In reality, many pirates ate poorly, did not become fabulously wealthy, and died young. Unlike traditional Western societies of the time, many pirate clans operated as limited democracies, demanding the right to elect and replace their leaders. The captain of a pirate ship was often a fierce fighter in whom the men could place their trust, rather than a more traditional authority figure sanctioned by an elite. However, when not in battle, the ship's quartermaster usually had the real authority. Many groups of pirates shared in whatever booty they seized, according to a complicated scheme where each man received his alloted share of the prize. Pirates injured in battle might be afforded special compensation. Often all of these terms were agreed upon and written down by the pirates. These articles could also be used as incriminating proof that they were outlaws. Pirates readily accepted outcasts from traditional societies, perhaps easily recognizing kindred spirits, and they were known to free slaves from slave ships and welcome them into the pirate fold. Such egalitarian practices within a pirate clan were tenuous, however, and did little to mitigate the brutality of the pirate's way of life.

Commerce raiders

A wartime activity similar to piracy involves disguised warships called commerce raiders or merchant raiders which attack enemy shipping commerce, approaching by stealth and then opening fire. Commerce raiders operated successully during the American Revolution. During World War II, Germany also made use of these tactics, both in the Atlantic and Indian oceans, but since naval vessels were openly used, these commerce raiders should not be considered even privateers, much less pirates.

Modern piracy

Piracy in recent times has increased in areas such as South and Southeast Asia (the South China Sea), parts of South America, and the south of the Red Sea, with pirates now favoring small boats and taking advantage of the small crew numbers on modern cargo vessels. Modern pirates prey on cargo ships which must slow their speed to navigate narrow straits, making them vulnerable to be overtaken and boarded by small motorboats. Small ships are also capable of disguising themselves as fishing vessels or cargo vessels when not carrying out piracy, in order to avoid or deceive inspections. In most cases, modern pirates are not interested in the cargo and are mainly interested in taking the personal belongings of the crew and the contents of the ship's safe, which might contain large amounts of cash needed to pay payr

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Pirates

Piracy in the Caribbean

Privateering

Pirate organization